Chapter 267: The Noble Family of Moorim (1)
“Oh, I see. So that’s what happened…”
That must be one of his abilities as an administrator, but his eyes grew even sharper.
“No way, I didn’t expect that skill to be passed on to you.”
“Do you know the original owner of this skill?”
“Ha. How can I not know when we fought so hard?”
Although his tone was pretentious, it wasn’t a lie. Rick and Namgoong Zhe weren’t only contemporaries, but Elle used the Last Bastion 500 years ago, and the Heavenly Warrior was one of the twelve who joined her.
“Anyway, since you’re asking such a question, it seems that you don’t know who the original owner was even though you got that skill?”
Namgoong Zhe smirked but said nothing more.
‘If he asks and I can’t answer, he must be waiting to make fun of me.’
Yoon-seok felt he was going to laugh. He appreciated his efforts to pay back even a little bit of the grudge from the Auction of Desire, but…
‘I probably know better than you.’
Yoon-seok had already dug into most of the questions he once had and was now preparing for the showdown. Sadly, the bait Namgoong Zhe threw out gave off a sour smell.
‘Well, bragging about something great, huh…’
“Who is that?”
Yoon-seok’s eyes moved at the sudden voice. The swordsman standing in front of Namgoong Zhe, who was there since he first arrived, finally spoke. They gave off a pretty sharp vibe, so Yoon-seok was curious about the name, however…
“I’ll tell you later. Go away for now.”
“…Yes, sir.”
The swordsman vanished without further question.
Whoosh-!
The reason why Namgoong Zhe hastily sent the swordsman back was predictable.
‘Is he keeping them in check? That’s cute.’
Perhaps the swordsman was Namgoong Zhe’s contractor. They were definitely from the duels.
“Anyway, what are his ambitions…?”
“Ambition?”
“Do you think it would be possible to steal his body? To start over again?”
“H-how could you…!”
Namgoong Zhe inhaled sharply. It was an ambition he never told anyone, so he was quite surprised that Yoon-seok knew.
“The future… yeah, that’s what she showed you back then.”
“Don’t ask my administrator about it or anything. Still, there was a time when you were my teammate.”
“…Did she even tell you that?”
“Is that important now?”
Yoon-seok sincerely felt it was a pity. For Namgoong Zhe, who had no idea what was going on in the Tower and was focused on his ambitions.
—Heheheh! I didn’t lie. Yeah, I didn’t lie!
And himself from another world, which was used by Namgoong Zhe.
“You have no manners.”
“That’s enough. Show me your powers.”
Namgoong Zhe’s beard trembled at Yoon-seok’s request. However, it was impossible to reject this request due to the Tower System. He clenched his teeth like he was being asked to inhale poison.
“What will come out?”‘
Yoon-seok waited and organized his mind. He had always been curious what kind of power he could have gained if he had signed a contract with this man instead of Elle.
[The unique power keywords are ‘Sword’, ‘Martial Arts’, ‘Inner Qi’, ‘Strength’, ‘Agility’, ‘Ultimate Strength’, and ‘Sky Above Sky’.]
Yoon-seok liked those keywords more than any other administrators displayed in the Auction.
“I can’t believe I have to hand over my power to this guy…”
“You’re not just handing it over. You’re selling it for WP, right? Do you give the WP you receive to the challenger from earlier or scalp it for yourself?”
“…”
Namgoong Zhe opened the window with a bright red face at Yoon-seok’s attitude. Yoon-seok read them one by one, from top to bottom. And before long, he frowned.
‘It’s nothing like I thought…?’
Namgoong Zhe’s total number of powers was 35, and there were only about eight left after subtracting the small powers under 500,000 WP. Of course, this was also the case with Elle, so it wasn’t a fault…
“Is this all? What, did you hide it?”
“…If you’re trying to fool me with words that don’t even make sense, just stop.”
Looking at his expression of regret, it seems he showed it without hiding anything.
Yoon-seok read the eight powers again from the beginning to see if there was something he was missing. The first one was the Soul of Warrior.
*Soul of Warrior – Half of AP is refunded when purchasing general skills of the Martial Arts Series.
Selling price: 750,000 WP
Well, it wouldn’t be bad if he got it initially, but… it was a useless power to have now. The highest general skills sold were at Rank A, and even if it was Rank A, it could be purchased for 1.5 million AP. It wasn’t reasonable to spend 750,000 WP to save pennies.
‘Wait, but if the power effect is doubled with b Heart of the Destructive Monarch}, will it still be half the price?’
Even considering that, it was a power he didn’t want. Just like the next.
*King of Swords – Dominate up to seven swords.
Selling price: 800,000 WP
It seemed to be the ability to replace the Qi-controlled Sword, but it wasn’t necessary for Yoon-seok with his Skywrath Sword. He also didn’t like the term dominate.
*Extreme – Increasing maximum mana by 2.5 times for 10 seconds. Cooldown time 72 hours.
Selling price: 850,000 WP
It was kind of like a special move, but it was ambiguous. Rather, the effect of b Thunder Sword} which increased mana, seemed better.
*Demon Sword – When equipped with a sword-type weapon, extreme demonic properties are given.
Selling price: 550,000 WP
It absorbed vitality and mana when attacking, but Yoon-seok already had {Demon God} which lacked the restrictions.
*Sell Skills – Sell the skills you own for 100% of the value back as AP. Once sold, a skill cannot be sold again.
Selling price: 900,000 WP
This was undesirable because there was Skill Synthesis. However, Yoon-seok tilted his head.
‘Why did he choose this one?’
It was the only power that didn’t go well with Namgoong Zhe. After a moment, Yoon-seok had an idea.
‘Ah, to make a profit?’
Perhaps Namgoong Zhe obtained this power to link with the Soul of Warrior. Buying at half price and selling at full price? Wasn’t that truly a creative economy?
‘He must have made quite a bit of money.’
Of course, only general skills of the Martial Arts Series were available, and they couldn’t be sold more than once. But that alone would’ve been at least a hundred million points in profit.
‘No matter how much profit he made, it probably isn’t worth it.’
Well, even a hundred million was ridiculous. But…
‘…I’m glad I chose Elle back then.’
In Yoon-Seok’s opinion, even if all the powers shown so far were combined, it was only worth one Skill Synthesis or Lady’s Commandment.
“Hurry up and pick one!”
Noticing that he was thinking of something else, Namgoong Zhe scolded him.
‘Why is he in a hurry…?’
Yoon-seok clicked his tongue and continued.
*White Lotus – When Magic is permanently increased, there is a 60% chance to permanently increase Strength or Agility by +1.
Selling price: 1.5 million WP
*Third Sword – One additional slot dedicated to swords will be created. When equipping equipment in a slot, the equipment options are superimposed on the sword currently being used.
Selling price: 1.5 million WP
*Twilight – At the end of each day, you get a fraction of what you truly desire.
Selling price: 4.1 million WP
White Lotus wasn’t particularly helpful at this point. Third Sword was a basic weapon enhancement, and Twilight couldn’t even afford it because he was short 100,000 WP.
“I’m going to choose between White Lotus or the Third Sword. Can you briefly explain them?”
“I have no such obligation.”
Yoon-seok asked just in case, but as expected, a cold answer came back. He couldn’t believe this attitude even though he was paying WP. Last time he worried about Elle’s lack of commercial morality, but now that Yoon-seok saw it, this man was the worst.
‘There’s no use in pressing the issue.’
Yoon-seok sighed and closed his eyes.
‘I’m sure I know what White Lotus is, but the explanation of the Third Sword is a bit vague.’
For now, let’s guess. For example, if the Judgment Sword were sealed in the slot, all options, including indestructible, would be given to all swords in use. However, there was only one important thing here. Did it also apply to the Skywrath Swords made of mana?
‘I’d have to check with King of All Sword activated…’
Nothing was certain, and it could be a waste of WP.
‘Still, if I had to choose, Third Sword would be better.’
Yoon-seok, quickly organizing his thoughts, opened his mouth.
“I want to ask you one thing.”
“As I said before, I have no obligation to answer…”
“It’s not about the power.”
“…Tell me.”
“If I buy a power, are you going to immediately kick me out like that contractor?”
“Do you think I’ll sit down with you and serve you tea?”
That was expected. However, this solved Yoon-seok’s most important problem.
“Yeah.”
“So, go ahead and choose.”
Finally, the decision was made. Now all that remained was to put it into action. But then, he suddenly remembered what he was asked to do a long time ago.
—It’s not that great… if you ever meet Namgoong Zhe again, could you ask where he hid the original Azure Dragon Flag?
Ah, one of the Namgoong family made such a request to him. She said she wanted to recover the family’s vision, the Azure Dragon Flag, that was lost at the hands of Namgoong Zhe 500 years ago.
At that time, Yoon-seok agreed to help.
‘Well, it’s not difficult.’
“I will ask you one more thing.”
“Are you making fun of…”
“The Azure Dragon Flag, where is it?”
Namgoong Zhe went stiff.
“Azure Dragon Flag? Why are you looking for it?”
“I have a request from your descendants. She asked me if we met someday.”
“Descendant…?”
“It’s Namgoong Jin-jin, and unlike you, she’s a pretty nice person.”
Perhaps it was a sudden change of topic. Namgoong Zhe organized his thoughts silently.
“…Wouldn’t it be possible if that child came to visit in person? I have no reason to tell you.”
He was being blunt because he didn’t like Yoon-seok. When it came to this, there was a way.
Putting oneself in the other’s shoes. What would the other person hate the most in this situation? The answer was rather simple.
“If I don’t buy a power, you can’t get rid of me.”
“…”
“If you just tell me where I will deliver it as it is.”
“How can I trust you?”
“You know I’m from Earth, don’t you? It’s useless to me. To be honest, even if it wasn’t, it’s not particularly interesting.”
Seriously, he didn’t want the Azure Dragon Flag, and Namgoong Zhe knew it. Now he was just being stubborn.
“But she seems to think differently. She became a challenger, anyway, so why don’t you help her…?”
“Hmph! Do you think you’ll learn the value of martial arts?”
Namgoong Zhe gave in.
“I will tell you the location.”
“Good.”
“The day I decided to leave my family’s martial arts and find a new path, I…”
“Since it’s a long story, let’s get to the point.”
“…Where the Azure Dragon flew up. The original Azure Dragon Flag was hidden in the deepest place there. If you tell her that, she will know.”
It sounded like a password that only insiders could understand. Well, Yoon-seok could deliver it as it was.
“Then go ahead. Buy the power and go away! Maybe you haven’t made a decision yet?”
Yoon-seok shook his head.
“No, I’ve made a decision.
“What did you choose?”
He tilted his head. Namgoong Zhe seemed to be very curious about what kind of power Yoon-seok would choose.
“White Lotus? The Third Sword?”
“Neither.”
“Ah, you usually use mana, so you have chosen the Extreme.”
“That’s also wrong.”
“What? Then what…”
Yoon-seok smiled.
“I will not buy a power.”
The moment he purchased a power, Namgoong Zhe would kick him out with his administrator’s authority, and that was something Yoon-seok didn’t want.
“I have something to try.”
“Something to try…?”
Instead of answering, Yoon-seok placed his hand on the hilt of his sword.
* Sky Breaking – Can kill those who do not die.
He had been wondering for a long time. Was it possible to kill an administrator? And what kind of expression would Namgoong Zhe make when he faced the challenger he was looking down on?
*Inverse Sky – When you kill an administrator, you acquire one of the administrator’s powers.
The power to loot him was a bonus.